3*8 



THE ANIMALS OF ARCTIC AMERICA AND CANADA 



adult elks cast their antlers, which are fully developed by the month of August. 

 While the antlers are covered with velvet the bulls spend most of their time in 

 marshes and bogs, where they feed on the leaves of the yellow water-lily, and 

 stand up to their necks in water as a protection from the bites of insects. In 

 October begins the pairing-season, when, and during the following month, resounds 

 the long-drawn whistle or bellowing call uttered by the old males. During the same 





WAPITI. 



periods combats for the possession of the females are common among the old bulls, 

 which in this respect resemble the majority of the deer tribe. Before the birth 

 of the calves, the cows withdraw to some convenient spot, either an island in a 

 lake or river, or a swamp or a prairie occasionally flooded, where they are likely 

 to be little subject to the attacks of wolves and bears. 



A third type of circumpolar deer found in America is the wapiti 



(Cervus canadensis), unfortunately miscalled elk in the land of its 



birth. Athough the wapiti is essentially an Old World form, it is only compara- 



